×
×
homepage logo

THS track teams win regional championships

By Benton Smith - | May 16, 2008

Benton Smith

Tonganoxie High track and field athletes and coaches celebrate after the girls and boys teams won regional chapmionships on Friday at Wamego.

? It wasn’t certain for one of the teams until after the final event of the evening was completed at Wamego, but Tonganoxie High’s girls and boys track teams won Class 4A regional championships Friday night.

While the girls’ team title was never really in question – the Chieftains finished with 130 points, 73 points ahead of runner-up Piper – the boys’ title wasn’t decided until the end of the 4×400 relay event.

Austin Stone, Bret Koch, D.J. Lindsay and Jeremy Carlisle led THS to a third-place finish in that race, and even though Clay Center’s team finished ahead of them, taking second in the event, the Chieftains did just well enough to edge the Tigers in the team standings. The final tally for team points was THS 73.5, CCHS 72.

The regional titles were made possible by great performances across the board by both squads as THS athletes won individual regional championships in eight events, including a pair of championships for senior Roxi Grizzle, who finished first in the girls shot put and javelin events.

Tonganoxie Girls Individual Champions

Benton Smith

Roxi Grizzle won the girls javelin after upsetting her younger sister Roni for the girls shot put title.

Christy Weller, 800-meter, 2:20.14

Tracie Hileman, triple jump, 34 feet, 2 inches

Roxi Grizzle, shot put, 39 feet, 2.5 inches; javelin, 144 feet, 7.5 inches

Roni Grizzle, discus, 116 feet, 2.5 inches

Tonganoxie Boys Individual Champions

Benton Smith

Christy Weller heads for the finish line in the girls 800-meter, which she won for Tonganoxie.

D.J. Lindsay, 200-meter, 22.79

Kendrick Whittington, high jump, 6 feet, 6 inches

Gabe Belobrajdic, javelin, 177 feet, 7 inches

Obviously, all of those THS athletes who won regional championships earned a spot at state, but numerous other Chieftains also punched their tickets to state in Wichita next week by finishing in the top four of their respective events.

Tonganoxie Girls State Qualifiers (champions excluded)

Benton Smith

Roni Grizzle won the girls discus for the Chieftains.

400-meter – 3. Christina Rubio, 1:01.63

800-meter – 2. Andie Jeannin, 2:22.51

100-meter hurdles – 2. Tracie Hileman, 15.89

4×400 relay – 2. Andie Jeannin, Megan Puhr, Christina Rubio, Christy Weller, 4:07.2

4×800 relay – 2. Andie Jeannin, Katie Chenoweth, Megan Puhr, Christy Weller, 10:23.98

Benton Smith

Tracie Hileman qualified for state in four events, including her second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. She won the triple jump, finished second in the long jump and took third in the high jump.

High jump – 3. Tracie Hileman, 5-0

Pole vault – 4. Abby Eisman, 8-6

Long jump – 2. Tracie Hileman, 16-8.25

Shot put – 2. Roni Grizzle, 38-1.25

Javelin – 2. Chrissie Jeannin, 129-5.5; 4. Roni Grizzle, 119-5

Benton Smith

Gabe Belobrajdic won the boys javelin for Tonganoxie.

Tonganoxie Boys State Qualifiers (champions excluded)

100-meter – 2. D.J. Lindsay, 11.45

800-meter – 2. Jeremy Carlisle, 1:57.58

4×100 relay – 4. Bret Koch, Jason Espeland, Jeremy Carlisle, D.J. Lindsay, 44.68

4×400 relay – 3. Austin Stone, Bret Koch, D.J. Lindsay, Jeremy Carlisle, 3:28.8

4×800 relay – 4. Pat Holton, Tommy Heskett, David Powell, Jeremy Carlisle, 9:16.75

Pole vault – 4. Jake Willis, 11-0

Discus – 4. Tyler Gurss, 133-5

Six other Chieftains fell just short of state in their events, but still scored points for THS that led to the regional team titles.

Other Tonganoxie Girls Results

1,600-meter – 6. Lauren Hall, 5:59.8

Shot put – 6. Dominique Grizzle, 33-0.5

Discus – 6. Elise Drennan, 87-9

Other Tonganoxie Boys Results

400-meter – 5. Austin Stone, 53.75

High jump – tie-5. Austin Smith, 6-0

Triple jump – 5. Dylan Scates, 41-1.5

For more on Friday’s regional, as well as a look at the upcoming state track meet in Wichita, see the May 21 edition of The Mirror.